Read my mind
by Gtimes3
Summary: It wasn’t that thethe girls in tight, short skirts and dresses weren’t appealing to him; it was just that his book was more appealing. - KakashixOC spoilers for manga!
1. Chapter 1

KakashixOC story

KakashixOC story. Sorry my other ones are so late with updates…they'll be updated ASAP. So sorry again; but stuff happens. I actually had to write this all out on paper, and then type it out onto the computer. Sorry again about my other stories. Please enjoy this one and review!

Chapter 1

"Now this is the sort of place that we'll pick up chicks boys", Genma informed the small group of friends who sat with him in the corner of the bar. They all grunted back at him in turn; agreeing, of course. Each of them sat nursing a beer; save for Hatake Kakashi, who sat nursing a sore hand, curtsey of Anko, from trying to take out his beloved porn, moments after he had entered the bar.

'There are fifty or more girls in tight outfits here to ogle at Hatake!' She had lectured, 'do us a favour and at least pretend that you think they are more attractive than your foul book!'

Kakashi scratched his head; '_Jeeze, that girl had a mouth; and a fist'_. Anyone would have thought that Anko _wanted_ men to look upon her and her cronies in a perverted, or at least a somewhat suggestive manor.

When he'd first seen the woman walking over, he'd thought that she was going to, once again, berate him for coming to a bar and not ordering anything to drink; he'd been quite surprised that she seemed to have abandoned this particular conquest, and had decided to go about annoying him in a different way. 'Annoying Hatake Kakashi' had to be quite high on Anko's list of talents. However, rephrasing it as 'inconveniencing Hatake Kakashi', might have been more appropriate. Besides, it wasn't as if the girls in tight, short skirts and dresses weren't appealing to him; it was just that his book was more appealing.

To be honest; he would rather have been at home, in bed, asleep; or possibly reading his Icha Icha novels, than in the bar; which was where he currently sat; squashed between Genma and a certain Nara Shikamaru, who happened to think the whole thing was 'troublesome' and was obviously only there because a certain horny senior of his, who happened to be sitting on Kakashi's other side, had called in some favours; and had taken it upon himself to write out a mission in order to make the younger ninja come with him.

Because he had been forced to push aside his porn with a firm hand for the night, by a very feisty, purple haired, probably hormonal woman, Kakashi took to staring around the room.

First, he chose to stare at the bar, which was directly in his line of site. The bar spanned the whole way across the opposing wall; with a small gap in the middle, through which the entrance could be seen; at the end of a long, dark corridor.

Along the bar sat a variety of different people; most were nin, several were civilians. They sat on tall bar stools, the vast majority were drunk men, leaning across the bar to speak to the pretty bar maids, with big breasts and bigger egos. They leant suggestively across the bar; all hoping for tips, or possibly a ride home with a handsome ninja.

Sadly the women weren't using their brains; nin only paired with other nin, the emotional ties of a civilian would be far too great; ninja understood that their other half might not come home, accepted that fact; although some chose to avenge their partners. Civilians, as Genma had once put it, 'just couldn't hack it'.

As he watched the bar, a woman looked up and caught him, she flicked her hair back over her shoulder and winked at him; obviously thinking that he had been staring at her. He looked away from her; trying not to give her the wrong impression, and focused on another section of the room. This section happened to be the dance floor, which sat to his right. Big glaring lights lit this part of the room, many different colours highlighted different parts of different people. Kakashi could see Anko 'grinding' on some civilian guy, who looked like he was having the best night of his life.

'He probably is', Kakashi thought to himself, 'Damn that girl can dance.'

On the dance floor there were more women than men; mostly clad in short skirts, or shorter dresses; they either danced together with a man, or in small groups; either trying to simulate sex in the middle of the bar, fully clothed (or not so fully, in most cases), or trying to best each other with fancy dance moves. The men, however, either danced with one girl, or stood moving little, and at that, awkwardly at the side of the dance floor; beers in hand, muttering to each other about how 'hot' the girls looked dancing, or about how lucky the guys dancing with them were. The guys who had managed to bag a girl to dance with were helping with the simulations; most trying to press themselves as near to the girl as possible. Kakashi had the sudden urge to tell them to 'get a room'. Of course; the smart-asses among them would just tell him that they 'had one' and that he was 'in it'. Kakashi therefore decided to just bare with the almost-love-making, despite the inconvenience it was to his vision.

The last place Kakashi turned his focus to was his left, which was crammed full of tables. The nearest table to them was occupied by several girls, who kept surreptitiously throwing him and his companions glances. Kakashi was artfully ignoring these glances, but Genma seemed to be very interested in them, and kept winking and waving back at the scantily clad women; several of whom Kakashi recognised as ANBU members. He supposed he could pass off their behaviour as 'practicing for missions of a seductive nature', of course, he knew they weren't 'practicing' as he'd have himself believe, but he refused to believe that they would be interested in any one of his companions, or himself. Except maybe Shikamaru – unfortunately they appeared to be a little out of his age bracket; make that about ten years out of his age bracket.

Then again, you never knew with girls these days, even Kakashi had to admit that the Temari girl that Shikamaru seemed to be dating, was one hot chick. He felt a little weird to be admitting this; if only to himself, because his students were only a year or so younger. Of course, he'd never see them that way; never ever. He may have appeared 'weird' or 'odd', but he was not 'deranged' or, contrary to popular belief – 'perverted'.

A low whistle distracted Kakashi from his thoughts; and he looked around to see Genma staring intently at the entrance to the bar; through which two women had just walked.

The taller of the two had long, dark hair, pulled back into two plats, which fell down her back, to her waist; and had legs which were, for want of better words, 'longer than forever'. The shorter came to her shoulder, and had shock white hair, the top layer was messy and fell about everywhere; underneath this layer peaked out short plats at random intervals, which twisted down to her shoulders.

Both appeared to be ninja – you could tell, it was the way they moved; nin moved with purpose, not with the 'slink' as the men called it; they didn't wonder around looking like the cat eying the cream; they walked as if they had gotten the cream, and were intent on intimidating anyone who came within an arms reach of said cream, by just using their status and posture.

Neither of the two were dressed conservatively. They were dressed as if they didn't know exactly what to wear; they looked like they had never been to a bar before - Kakashi wondered if that was actually a fact.

They both wore flat shoes(the first sign that they had never been here before; all the other girls in the bar, that Kakashi had seen, were wearing at least four inches of heel – impractical, but worth it, apparently); the second actually wearing what looked like ballet shoes; correct even to the long ribbons which were wrapped around her legs at intervals, finally being tied just beneath the backs of her knees. They were blue.

Sticking with the blue theme, she also wore a dress of the exact same colour. It had a big bow around the middle, which you could see from the front; the ends of the ribbons falling past the hemline of the dress.

The taller one, on the other hand, was wearing flat black shoes; and had decided to go for the classic 'little black dress' – the sort of fashion which was so famous that even the social hermit Kakashi knew about it. The dress had two little straps at the top, pulling over her shoulders, and from the top of her chest, it hugged her body like lycra until her mid thigh; where the dress abruptly ended, presumably to give everyone around a stunning view of her long legs.

The shorter of the two appeared to be looking for someone; her eyes darting around the room, not missing anything – of course, this could just be for show, Kakashi wondered whether, in a moment, she was going to put on a dramatised sigh, and then ask the most attractive looking guy in the bar where 'so and so' is, in hopes of being asked to sit down. Not that any guy would mind if they did sit with them; Genma, for example, was salivating at the sight of them – of course, this wasn't much of a challenge, Genma salivated over anything with two legs and a short skirt. However, he had to agree with the guy this time; if he didn't have a reputation to uphold, Kakashi would probably have followed the man's lead and whistled at the women as they walked past.

The shorter girl's gaze finally swept over their table; and came to rest on none other than Shikamaru. The girl turned slightly and elbowed her friend, nodding her head towards him. The other shook her head at her, and muttered something under her breath, before dragging her over to another table to Kakashi's left. He saw the shorter girl's face fall a little, before turning to smile over at Shikamaru as they passed.

Kakashi had assumed that she had liked the look of Shikamaru, which was why the girl had tried to get her friend to join him at the men's table. However, she didn't seem upset, or even slightly ruffled at the fact that Shikamaru didn't smile back, or even acknowledge the fact that she had smiled at him – of course, he probably hadn't even noticed. Kakashi had assumed that the taller girl had informed the shorter that Shikamaru was seeing Temari (Since Kakashi was quiet sure that he was), which was why the smaller girl had seemed disappointed. However, the smile she gave him was the sort you would give a friend or acquaintance on the street; when you weren't sure that they would see you, but you wanted to show that you saw them.

She was obviously not interested.

Kakashi watched as the two sat down, they sat opposite each other, 'strategic positioning', Kakashi realised, they'd be able to see the threats which came from behind each other, undoubtedly ninja. The two once again looked like they'd never been to a bar before; or even relaxed. They seemed to be set in their ways.

Both, he noticed, also seemed a little tense; although the shorter one looked extremely excited also; she was leaning towards her friend and talking rapidly, a grin all over her face, and her eyes kept glancing around her, as if it was all something new.

The taller seemed a little more composed, and kept glancing towards a man at the bar.

Kakashi recognised him as Kunimitsu; a familiar ANBU member who Kakashi had worked with in the past. The man had golden hair and eyes, which had made him quite popular with the female population of Konoha, but was, surprisingly, still single. His good teamwork, easy charm, and patriotism had won Kakashi over when they'd met on missions. Needless to say, Kakashi liked the other man.

The shorter of the two women seemed to have caught Kakashi staring at her friend; he saw the taller flinch and guessed that the woman had been kicked under the table. He watched as they had another hurried conversation, before, surprisingly, the taller woman turned around to face him directly.

Caught off guard by the woman's boldness; and a little embarrassed to have been caught staring, Kakashi turned his eyes towards the table.

This was all Anko's fault. Even now his fingers were itching to fish out his Icha Icha books. He wondered what the women would think if he did just decide to pull out his book.

Kakashi decided to ignore the girls, and started to focus on the conversation that had started up between his friends.

"Definitely would – who wouldn't!?"

"Dunno about you, but I'd rather have some bigger assets, if you know what I mean."

"Girls are far too troublesome."

Kakashi would have to agree with Shikamaru on that one; the only way he'd ever been involved with women was for mission sex. Of course, he could always just go have mission sex with another guy; but there was something alluring about the challenge women presented; it was harder to get into their beds; but it was also harder to get out of them without them a, knowing, or b, caring.

Although whichever way you looked at it, ninja women were easier. They understood mission sex; hell, they had mission sex themselves. Some, of course, had permanent, or semi-permanent lovers; but they weren't always around when their other halves needed them. Men tended to try and not get involved in one of these arrangements. Luckily, the female ninja population was far more sparse than the male population.  
The only problem was making sure that the nin you went after wasn't already taken. For example; Anko, who was grinding against the latest man in an alarming manor wasn't taken. Kurenai, on the other hand, who was currently laid up in bed, and heavily pregnant, was taken. However, she was one of the more obvious taken females; and had been, even before she became pregnant. She was a crap actress.

Come to think of it, Asuma had been a crap actor as well.

He glanced over at the women he had sworn to ignore again. He wondered if they were single. The taller obviously hoped not to be. Kunimitsu seemed to have joined them now, along with a few other friends of his, who Kakashi didn't know. They were younger than both himself, and Kunimitsu for that matter.

One of them had an obvious interest in the shorter woman. He sat to her right, and looked to be touching her whenever the opportunity presented itself. She didn't seem to mind him; in fact, she was talking avidly with him, however, she cringed away a little every time he touched her. He wondered if she was uncomfortable with 'touchy-feely' things, as some ninja had become.

Kakashi had once been very opposed to the 'touchy-feely things', but since he had taken on students, he had become a lot better with them. Of course, you couldn't have students unless you were able to communicate with them. He had needed to show them how to use weapons properly, which meant that he had to help them position their hands; so he couldn't be too opposed to the 'touchy-feely' things.

Kakashi was quite pleased to note that, a little while later, an ANBU came and took the men away; presumably a mission had arisen. They'd chosen the perfect time for Kakashi; he was beginning to get annoyed with the man who obviously couldn't keep his hands to himself. He was a little upset, however, for the taller woman, who had obviously been having a good time until the ANBU came. When the men left, she slouched a little. The shorter spoke to her for a while, leaning across the table and smiling at her, and before long, she seemed to have cheered up; her posture returning.

Genma seemed to have taken this as a good thing, and was currently ordering a waitress to take a couple of drinks over to them; curtsey of himself.

Kakashi watched as the waitress walked over to them with the drinks, before motioning at Genma over her shoulders. The taller one seemed to be trying to refuse hers.

The shorter managed to convince the woman to keep the drink, and, when the waitress had gone, she waved over at Genma with a big smile on her face. She seemed pretty pleased to have received the free drinks.

He watched as she lifted the drink up to her lips. Suddenly the taller of the two struck out.

The drink went everywhere.

"What the hell?!"

Genma and the shorter girl appeared to have spoken the same words, at the same time.

The taller girl leaned across the table to say something to the shorter girl, which clearly upset her. She stood, leaning forwards with her hands on the table, whilst the other girl stood, pushing her untouched drink away, and walked around to join the girl the other side of the table.

She must have seen it coming, if she was any sort of ninja, but she didn't block the palm which slapped her right across her face, leaving an angry red mark.

The woman stood there wide-eyed, watching as her companion left the bar, leaving her dripping wet from the drink, which had managed to soak her as it fell. She gripped the table tightly for a few moments.

Genma made to get up, but Kakashi held him back, waiting for the girl to react. She didn't – at least, not in any sane way; the girl got up and ran after her friend.

"Y-YUKI-CHAN!" The woman yelled after her, clearly more worried that she had upset her friend, than about the drinks.

The girl turned back just before she reached the door and yelled at the waitress.

"Put it on Tsunade's tab!"

Then she left.

"What the hell?" Asked the waitress, "I don't know if they even know Hokage-sama! I can't just 'put it on her tab'!"

Kakashi sighed; it was true, but he wondered why they'd asked her to put it on Tsunade's tab, of all people. He sighed, got up, and walked over to the waitress.

"Here", he muttered, slipping her some money, "that'll cover mine and theirs, so no worries okay?"

He smiled at her.

"A-a-ah, right, thank you, Hatake-sama", the girl stuttered after him, as Kakashi followed the women's lead and walked out of the bar.

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	2. Chapter 2

Enjoy and review 

Enjoy and review 

Chapter 2

Kakashi realised a few weeks after the incident at the bar, that he had been frequenting there with Genma more than was usual for him lately, and that he had let the man drag him off to the bar almost every night that week, barely bothering to try and excuse himself from the task.

Of course, his horny friend had taken this to be a brilliant thing, because it meant that he had the pleasure of Kakashi's company almost twice or three times as much as he usually did. This also meant that he managed to get more free rounds out of Kakashi; not having to pay anything himself for Kakashi; seeing as Kakashi always refrained from ordering anything. The exception to this was, of course, on the off chance that he had just made it back from a mission, and had decided to purchase some time with a pretty bar maid; who were always willing to offer their services.

Of course, Kakashi had never had much trouble with 'getting any', because of his status in the village. Of course, he was the infamous copy-nin, the man who had mastered over a thousand techniques. Most were also interested in exactly what lay under his mask.

Kakashi was sure that the amount of people who had actually seen underneath his mask at the present time could be counted in one hand.

There was Tsunade, obviously, she was currently the only person who healed him; aside from sometimes Sakura, or random ANBU medic nins who healed him on missions. Of course; they never needed to heal his face, so his mysterious air remained in tact.

Of course, the two at the ramen stand had seen his face; Ayame and her father, but that was inevitable, having eaten there with his team enough times; also, the fact that they had seen his face quite obviously pissed off his team to some extent. So he might have accidentally made sure that they had seen his face.

The look on Naruto's face was priceless; not to mention Sasuke's. The ever emotionless boy, having once again been thwarted by the infamous copy-nin.

Sometimes Kakashi missed his cute team mates.

He couldn't say the same for Sasuke, but he was quite happy for Naruto and Sakura, who had had the best teaching possible over the last few years; Jiriya and Tsunade were indeed brilliant ninja.

The last person who had definitely seen him without his mask on was Gai, who had also seen Kakashi off-his-face drunk. He was sure that he'd had good times on those nights; but he couldn't honestly remember.

To be totally honest; Kakashi thought that was about it, he couldn't even remember who the last person to see his face was. He guessed that there may have been one or two others in Konoha who had been granted the pleasure of seeing him mask-less. Of course; it would only have been by accident.

The fact that he had let Genma drag him down to the bar more than usual lately was quite disconcerting to Kakashi. It was also true that, although he had kept his eyes peeled, and knew that Genma did to, he had not seen either of the two women from 'the night of the incident', as Genma had lovingly dubbed it.

In fact, the only sign that the women had even existed, apart from Shikamaru's confirmation, was the big envelope of cash that had been shoved through Kakashi's door; which he had discovered upon returning from a recent mission.

Of course, he could not be sure that this was, in fact, repayment for the drinks that he had paid for, since some people in the past had decided to leave him tips. However, he had a nagging suspicion that this had been left by them. Kakashi guessed that someone at the bar had told them who had paid for said drinks – news travelled abnormally fast in a village full of ninja – because they would never have guessed alone that he was the one who had paid for them; given his cheap-skate nature.

Of course, he had no real reason to be cheap at all. Being the last of the Hatake clan had left him with a considerably large bank balance; as had the numerous missions that he had undertaken. However, in truth, he found himself enjoying other people's squirming and discomfort once they discovered that he had left them with the bill. It wasn't that he was sadistic, per say, he just needed to get his kicks somehow.

It also made him look a lot better when he did do something nice, like pay for people's drinks. He sure knew how to make someone feel special…

Despite not seeing the women again, he thought about them an awful lot. He saw Kunimitsu from time to time, and had taken to wondering whether the taller woman – Yuki – had managed to get her claws into him yet.

The shorter one still remained nameless, and, although he had done a little research; A.K.A. he had called in some favours in ANBU, nobody seemed to know who she was.

It was surprising, but not impossible - in a village as big as Konohagakure you were always sure to find someone that you didn't know.

Kakashi had given up when the villages biggest gossips – Anko and Genma – themselves didn't know who the woman was. They had, however, made several snide comments about his new found interest in the female side of the species.

Kakashi thought he had better let it drop before the shock went to their heads and made them spontaneously combust – Tsunade wouldn't take kindly to that.

Meanwhile, Genma had found a new conquest, in the shape of a 'hot little medic nin', who had apparently just changed to the night shift – which meant that Genma saw her a lot more often than he had done previously.

Apparently this woman's name was also Yuki. Kakashi was glad – he didn't think that Genma would manage to learn two names in one month; much less two weeks.

Since he had nothing better to do, Kakashi busied himself with lots of missions; ranging from assassinations to guard duties. This slog of missions not only allowed him to focus on something other than the girls, and brought in a lot of cash; but also gave him a valid excuse to avoid Genma; and, indirectly because of this, being shanghaied, guilt tripped, or otherwise forced into going to the bar with said horny friend.

It was three weeks before he took a break from the constant onslaught of missions; which made it a month since he saw the two women, before he saw them again.

He was quite surprised to find them in a very interesting situation when he did see them again.

Kakashi had decided to do some training or his next mission, so he had headed over to the ANBU exclusive training grounds.

It was just as he was approaching the clearing that he heard a very familiar sound. He jumped over the few remaining feet with chakra enhanced steps.

'Sasuke!?'

The sight that met him, however, was not his former student, and the sound of a thousand birds had not been created by said former student wielding a chidori.

Instead, he found two women in the clearing; one with her hands in a seal, standing perfectly still, with what could only be described as a chakra shield surrounding her. The other was running full pelt towards the woman, a hand full of screeching chakra being dragged along behind her; a look of sheer determination on her face.

He watched as, when she was about a metre or so away from her partner, the running woman forced her chakra filled hand up in front of her, pushing it outwards towards her companion.

He wanted to yell at the taller of them, Yuki, to move; but instead he watched in awe as the shorter woman ran towards the shield; arm outstretched.

The chidori seemed to have penetrated the shield; but came to a halt just before it hit its' target. At first Kakashi thought that the girl had stopped it on purpose; but it became apparent in the next few seconds that she hadn't.

The chidori went out like a lamp. The chakra in her hand just suddenly disappeared.

The girl who had been wielding it was thrown backwards; flying for a few metres, before hitting a tree and falling to the floor, gasping for breath.

Yuki let down her shield and walked towards her friend.

"Enough", she told the girl on the ground.

"But Yuki!" The girl protested, "I'm so close! I've almost got it!"

"I said enough, Aya", the woman replied, holding out her hand to her friend. "You'll use too much chakra; do you want to die?"

"Hai, hai", the shorter woman gave in, reaching up and taking the proffered hand, and pulling herself up.

'So her name's Aya?' Kakashi thought to himself, reaching up and scratching his head.

He let his chakra flare, to let them know that he was there, and started walking towards them; still a little hidden by the trees.

"Get behind me Aya!" Yuki's voice commanded.

"But! -" The other woman started.

"You're weakened, get behind me!"

A tree cut off Kakashi's vision, but when he entered the clearing, it was to see 'Aya' peering out from behind Yuki's back. Yuki was standing in a defensive position.

As soon as he entered the clearing, Kakashi felt a small shock to his body. He guessed it might have been the woman's shield technique.

As soon as the shock had gone, Aya stepped out from behind Yuki; smiling. She waved towards him.

"Hatake-san!" She called to him.

Yuki gave him a dirty glance, but let down the shield that had been surrounding her and her friend; it wasn't as if he was going to attack them after all. He walked towards the two.

"Yo!" He called out, raising a hand in greeting.

"Thank you for the other time Hatake-san!" Aya sang out, smiling still; she now had her hands clasped behind her back, and was leaning towards him. "It was very kind of you!" She spoke in a very 'sing-song' voice.

"Ah", he replied, "no problem. The barmaid didn't know what to do, ha ha."

"Sorry we had to leave in such a rush", she said, straightening up and glancing at her friend, "stuff to do, people to see; tee hee!"

"Ah, it's a shame; there was good music that night!" He informed her.

"Does that not happen often?" She looked confused.

"Only on special occasions", he grinned at her.

"Me and Yuki-chan will have to come more often! I want to dance next time!" She told him excitedly. He was about to tell her that he'd be sure to dance with her, when Yuki interrupted.

"Ayame", she said, sounding serious. 'Ah', he thought to himself, 'so that's her full name.'

"We will be late", the woman continued, shooting a glance at Kakashi. 'Ah', he thought, 'It seems that she's heard of my…reputation.'

"Ah, of course Yuki-chan!" The girl said, smiling up at her friend; "let's go then!"  
She turned to Kakashi.

"It was nice seeing you, Hatake-san!" She gave him a blinding smile, before running out of the clearing, towards Konoha.

Yuki waited until the other girl had left the clearing, before running after her, clearly she was a little protective of the shorter nin.

Kakashi had to wonder which of the two was the higher ranking nin. The obvious one would be the taller of the two. She was protective over the shorter nin; and had managed to block the chidori with her shield. Granted that the chidori wasn't complete; however, she had still managed to block it. She also appeared to mother the shorter nin, aside, of course, from trying to protect her. Furthermore, she had given her a command earlier in the day. 'Get behind me, Aya!'

Then again, Tsunade was the best ninja in the village, and she had four hunter-nins protecting her.

Kakashi trained his chakra for a good three hours that day, before Gai came along, and his was forced to practice his Taijutsu skills, and then his running skills, in quick succession.

He went to bed exhausted that night.


	3. Chapter 3

Enjoy and review

Enjoy and review

Chapter 3

The word on the street was that a group of ninja were being 'selected' to go on a mission to take down an Akatski member. They would be some of the best in the village. At least, that was what Anko had told him, and what Genma had confirmed.  
Of course, Genma had probably just been told by Anko. So who knew what to believe?

Kakashi didn't know what to believe, however, it was no secret that the villagers were betting on who would be selected. Quite high on the list was Kakashi himself; along with Genma, Gai, and Anko. Several of the higher ranking members of the Huuga clan were also quite high on the list.

He was quite surprised to hear that his former student Haruno Sakura was also being bet on.

"Of course she is Hatake!" Genma had insisted, "she's lady Tsunade's apprentice! She'll definitely be chosen as the medic for such a high class mission!"

The next 'news' that reached Kakashi's ears was the 'fact' that two members of Tsunade's personal guard; A.K.A two hunter-nin, were going to be assisting the mission.

This, Kakashi had to question. The only missions Tsunade's personal guard went on as hunter-nin were those in which they needed to kill and destroy bodies of those who were a danger to, or had betrayed Konoha.

The only other sort of mission they took were those which, if any other nin took, would result in said ninja's undeniably infinite end.

These were H-class missions.

H for Hokage.

If this so-called mission was real, it would be a damned big one.

The sort of mission that the ANBU had dubbed:

F.B.M.T.Y.S.D.N.E.M.U.N.W.M.O.T.H.W.E.Y.F.S

Freaking bigass mission you should definitely not ever mess up no way man or the Hokage will eat you for sure.

If this mission was real, ANBU would have to think up an even more inventive name.

Kakashi hoped it would be more inventive, but also smaller.

It wasn't long before the villagers suspicions were confirmed. One of Tsunade's personal ANBU came directly to Kakashi from Tsunade to deliver him a mission scroll.

In big letters across the side were the words: H-CLASS.

The mission was to retrieve Uchiha Itachi's body from Akatski. He would be attending a briefing in two days time. He was off work to train for the mission until then.

It was when he had finished reading the scroll that Kakashi realised that he was in for the biggest F.B.M.T.Y.S.D.N.E.M.U.N.W.M.O.T.H.W.E.Y.F.S he had ever taken on.

In short: Kakashi was screwed.

Dead screwed.

Dead.

It was on a Thursday morning that Kakashi packed all of his things into a bag, and set of for Hokage tower under the pretence of a mission briefing.

He carried very little with him. Food, change of clothes, weapons, bottled water – all a ninja could need on a mission.

Kakashi had packed more weaponry than usual in his pack however; he was up against Akatski, it was a H-Class mission; even the possibility of having two hunter-nin on the mission with him did not quench his fears. He did not want this to be his last mission.

Over the last two days, Kakashi had practiced genjutsu, Taijutsu, and had done chakra training; squeezing in as much as possible, before the 'big day'.

He set out at ten to ten, so that he would be at the tower on time, the meeting started at ten, and he didn't want to be late for such an important meeting. Even Hatake Kakashi, the infamously late ninja would not sink that low.

Even Obito wouldn't have sunk that low.

When Kakashi arrived at the tower he was a little surprised at the others who waited there with him. Haruno Sakura, his former student and team mate sat in conversation with Huuga Neiji outside of the Hokage's office.

"Kakashi sempai", the Huuga greeted, turning towards him as he entered, giving him a polite nod of the head.

"Yo", he replied, raising a hand in greeting, stopping about a metre away from the two and slouching back; leaning on his left leg.

"As expected of Kakashi sensei", Sakura inputted, "It's good to see you again sensei!"

"And you, Sakura-chan", he smiled at the girl, suppressing the urge to reach out and ruffle her hair. She was almost a woman now, after all, he didn't think she would take kindly to having her hair ruffled.

Especially in front of the Huuga; after all, he had heard that since he had stopped ranting about 'destiny', the boy had become somewhat of an attractive young bachelor.

A couple of minutes before they were due in the office, Yamoto walked through the door, stopping close to Kakashi. Like Kakashi, he had donned his full ANBU uniform; complete with mask.

"Interesting team", he observed.

"It would seem so", Kakashi replied. "Then again, we have Konoha's second best medic-nin in our ranks; also the youngest Jounin on the squad. I think we'll make a pretty good crew.

"I wondered if she might send Naruto", Yamoto muttered.

"Naruto's training to become a sage; with the, erm, frogs", Sakura helpfully informed him.

"I see", Yamoto replied; Kakashi didn't think he 'saw' at all.

A loud shattering sound from the office silenced them all.

"Tsunade-sishou!" Sakura exclaimed, reaching for the door immediately.

"NO ALPHA! I THINK YOU ARE THE ONE WHO DOES NOT UNDERSTAND!"Came Tsunade's roar from inside of the office.

Sakura stopped in her tracks.

They heard more muffled yelling from inside, then some more shattering of china…or perhaps glass; before finally the room became quiet once more.

"What do you think?-" Sakura asked.

"One of Tsunade's guard is arguing with her", the Huuga informed them. "Tsunade was throwing plant pots at her."

Kakashi would be lying if he said that he hadn't assumed that Tsunade was the one who had been throwing things. He had been the victim of her 'throwing sprees' more than once. Several times he had had plant pots flying towards him because of not so prompt, and or, bad mission reports.

"And now?" Sakura asked meekly.

"The one who was arguing with her is being held back by her other guards. The elders are laughing at her, and -"

"The elders?" Yamoto interrupted.

"Yes", he replied, "they are all assembled in the office."

That came as a bit of a shock. There should have been no reason for the elders to be in the room at all. Much less prompting arguments.

"They seem to have finished arguing. They're returning to their places", Neiji informed the group.

The door opened, and Shizune poked her head through.

"Tsunade-sama will see you now", the woman told them, smiling a little.

The four of them walked through the door after the woman, and surveyed the area.

Tsunade sat behind her desk, looking quite pissed, her chin resting on one of her fists.

The elders sat at a table in the middle of the room; all on the opposite side to the ninja. There were four spare spaces at the table, opposite them.

In each corner of the room stood a member of Tsunade's personal guard; the Hunter nin. The four of them wore basic uniforms, which were composed of green camouflage trousers, black tank tops, armour, gloves, and two long kanatas, crossed across their backs. All of them wore masks similar to Kakashi's, but each was in their 'own' colour. Blood red, bottle green, midnight blue, and black were the colours.

Aside from these masks they also wore animal masks – these were in the shapes of birds face, and started with the end of the beak at the tip of their nose. The masks were not painted in animal faces, however, they were painted with leaves all over, to symbolise Konoha.

The only exception to the uniform was the nin with the red mask, who was not wearing a bird mask, but had instead tied her head plate across her eyes.

Finally there was Shizune, who moved to stand behind Tsunade, picking up Toto as she did so.

Several shattered plant pots were laying at the bottom of the wall; which was dirt stained; as if a lot of mud had somehow slipped down it…

The group bowed to Tsunade, before standing in a line before her; waiting for further instruction. Tsunade opened her mouth to speak, when a voice interrupted.

"Permission to speak, Hokage-sama!"

It was one of her guards; the one with the red mask.

"Don't you think you've said enough?" Asked a sour faced women among the elders.

"If you'll excuse me, Elder, but Alpha is my guard, and I will give her permission to speak whenever I see fit." Tsunade told the woman; putting her in her place. She had perked up when the woman asked for permission to speak, as if it would make her day more exciting if she did.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama", the woman said, moving in front of her and bowing.

Then she turned to Kakashi. "I have a question for Hatake Kakashi-sama. Would you be so kind as to answer my question Hatake Kakashi-sama?"

'Talk about polite', Kakashi thought to himself.

"Of course", he replied, bowing.

"Is your father's name on the mission stone?"

It was at that point that all hell broke loose.

All three of Tsunade's other guards slammed into the woman at the same time, throwing her back against the wall, two shoving hands over her mouth, to prevent her from speaking.

The last of them pushed a hand around her throat, blocking her windpipe; so she really couldn't speak; he left just enough room for her to breath.

All of the elders stood up at once, mouthing off about different things.

"Well I never knew -"

"What do you intend to do about that, Tsunade?"

"In all my life!"

"Supposed to be loyal, _polite_ guards!"

"Witness to -"

"Blasphemy!"

"BE QUIET!" Tsunade finally roared. Every head turned towards her. Her palms were flat against her desk as she leant forwards. Her eyes were to her desk, and the vain in her forehead looked fit to burst.

"Elders!" She started, "if you would be so kind as to resume your places."

One by one, the elders sat down, last being the sour faced woman in the middle.

"You!" She cried, rounding on the group of nin who stood shock still in the middle of her office, "sit down now!"

They quickly moved to sit down at the table.

Finally, she rounded on the hunter-nin.

"And you!" She spat; before sighing. "There are several things I could do, and they would all be well within my rights as a Hokage." She told the woman.

"Firstly, I could order you out of my office. Secondly, I could order you to apologize to the elders. Thirdly, I could sentence you to death, and lastly, and, quite frankly, most fun of all, I could de-rank you into oblivion and send you on the worst missions I could think of, until the end of time!"

The elders, Kakashi noted, were all nodding their heads in agreement; something which they rarely did when Tsunade was speaking.

"However", she said, stopping. "You just happen to be my Alpha, and you just happen have been bequeathed a mission earlier on this week, which you have yet to have undertaken, and I just happen to agree with you -"

"TSUNADE!" The sour faced elder interrupted again, "I cannot accept that you are going to let thi-this blasphemous youth get away with this! I don't care who's guard she is! And to _agree_!"

"Elder, Alpha makes a valid point", Tsunade answered her through her teeth. "I just happen to agree with her. We all have our differences."

"But what she is proposing is preposterous! All we worked so hard to -"

"THIS DISCUSSION IS OVER! IN FACT! - THIS TOPIC IS NO LONGER UP FOR DISCUSSION!" Tsunade roared.

"Let her go!" She ordered the three guards; who immediately released their fellow.

"When this mission is completed", she continued, "that is when we will have our discussion. Is that clear?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" Came her answer.

"On another issue", the elder spoke again, "may I speak?" She asked.

"Of course, Elder." Tsunade replied.

"One of our important ninja has just been spoken to very rudely. Will you stand for this Tsunade?!"

"Brat", Tsunade said, turning to Kakashi, "did Alpha's question offend you?" The look that she gave him made it quite clear that it better not had.

Luckily, it hadn't.

"No, Tsunade-sama."

"Good, then no action needs to be taken."

The Elder sat down again, fuming. The other elders also appeared to be annoyed at what had happened. Tsunade, however, appeared to be very amused; and looked almost jovial at the outbursts; Kakashi supposed that she hadn't had so much fun in a long while; he also knew that, above all, the woman loved to defy the elders. She thought they were stuffy, and usually wrong. From what he had heard, the feeling was mutual.

"Now!" Tsunade called, "let this mission briefing commence!"

At her words, the four guards returned to their corners.

Tsunade read out the mission description that each of them had received, before going on to explain what type of problems that were likely to occur, and how they could counter them. They were informed that they would be travelling to the rain village; or just outside of it, as that was where the Akatski were likely to be based at the present time.

They were given the low down on each of the known Akatski members, and of the area.

They were informed that Alpha and Omega would be the two Guards who would be accompanying them. Alpha would be, obviously, their leader.

Upon hearing that the woman was going to lead the group, the elders decided to make a stand; but Tsunade quickly shut them up by informing them that she was the 'most capable', and that the mission 'would undoubtedly fail' if she wasn't the one to lead it.

Kakashi wasn't sure that this was completely true, but got ready to back Tsunade up, should she need help.

When the elders had backed down, Kakashi watched Tsunade give them a 'so there' look, which made him chuckle.

The last thing Tsunade did was introduce the group to 'Alpha' and 'Omega'. Omega was a male nin who wore a dark green mask. He seemed to be a lot calmer than his companion.

The briefing lasted just over an hour, and eventually they were ordered to meet at one o' clock at the main gates.

They were dismissed, and each went their own ways; save for the hunter-nin, who stayed in the office with Tsunade and the elders.

Kakashi had decided to use his time at the mission stone; so he took off over the rooftops towards the training grounds.

He spent a long time at the stone, and thought about many things. One particular thing was the question that the hunter-nin had asked 'is your father's name on the mission stone?'

Despite the fact that he was not K.I.A. Hatake Sakumo's name was indeed on the stone; the Fourth Hokage had seen to it that it was carved on, telling Kakashi that 'all heroes deserve to be recognised.'

Kakashi supposed that the fourth just wanted to make sure that not everyone remembered Hatake Sakumo as a villain; which he wasn't. To be honest, Kakashi agreed with Obito: His father was a hero.

Kakashi felt a presence behind him, so he turned to see who it was, and was surprised to find the hunter-nin 'Alpha' behind him.

"Please excuse the interruption Hatake Kakashi-sama." The woman stated.

"Ah", he replied, scratching the back of his head. "It's not a problem, please continue."

"Thank you, Hatake Kakashi-sama."

The nin walked forwards and stood next to him in silence. They stood next to each other quietly for a long while. Kakashi tried to focus on the names on the stone, but to no avail. All he could think about was the argument in the office.

'Is your father's name on the mission stone?'

He still had no idea why she would want to know such a thing.

'Is your father's name on the mission stone?'

He wondered exactly what they had been arguing about to warrant such a question.

'Is your father's name on the mission stone?'

He would have guessed that it was the mission they were about to undertake, but why would the mission stone have anything to do with that?

'Is your father's name on the mission stone?'

'Is your father's name on the mission stone?'

'Is your father's name on the mission stone?'

"We should be going now Hatake Kakashi-sama."

"Ah", he scratched his head sheepishly, he'd forgotten the time again. "Of course, Alpha-san."

He followed the woman to the gates.

The others were waiting for them when they arrived, and when Kakashi took his place, the five of them stood in a semi-circle around Alpha; who surveyed them all.

"We'll travel in twos", she decided finally. "Omega and Yamato-sama will be guarding the back." She picked up a stick and started drawing in the sand. "In the middle will be our 'base' whilst travelling. That'll be Huuga Neiji-sama and Haruno Sakura-sama; as out medic nin. Neiji, I would like you to keep your eyes open; I need the surrounding area scanned as we travel."

"Hai", the boy muttered, opening his bykogan immediately.

"At the front of the group will be me and Hatake Kakashi-sama", she told them. "Has anyone got any problems?"

Each of them shook their heads.

'She's good', Kakashi decided.

She was guarding the rear with a nin she had worked with in the past; obviously she knew his strengths and weaknesses; and Yamoto – who was best defensively.

Putting the medical station in the middle made sure that no one was disadvantaged medically, and putting Neiji in the middle made sure that he was able to see equally in each direction, which meant that he was well placed for seeing possible attackers.

Lastly, Kakashi himself was stronger on the attack front, which meant that it made sense to put him at the front. It also made good sense for the leader to stand at the front of the group. He had to wonder, however, how she fought.

Each of Tsunade's guard members had different specialities. Weaponry, medic, taijutsu, and genjutsu. Obviously neither of these two were medical, seeing as there would be no point in sending Sakura if either were. Since Tsunade had sent Kakashi and Yamoto, he guessed that neither of them was the genjutsu type; which left Taijutsu and weaponry. He wondered which was which.

"Omega!" Alpha's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Hai!"

"You will make sure that you are in Huuga Neiji-sama's blind spot at all times. Are we clear?!"

"Hai!"

"Good. That is all. Break out!"

The ninja turned and ran fast out of the gate, getting into line as they did so. Kakashi ran to the front, and let himself fall a little behind of Alpha, so that she could easily change the direction in which they ran.

As soon as the trees started, Alpha hauled herself up into the tree tops, trusting the others to follow her. They did, of course. Kakashi was, however, quite surprised with the pace she set. Of course, he could keep up with the hunter-nin's pace; but he worried that Sakura and Neiji would have problems with it. After all, he doubted the nin was going to stop running until after dark.

Kakashi was pleased to note, despite his initial worries, that after a few hours the woman started slowing down a little every hour. By the time it was dark, they were running almost slowly; for ninja that is.

When it did get dark, Alpha had Neiji search out a hiding place for the night. He found a rock formation, so they left the path they had been taking, and veered right towards the rocks. When they landed, Alpha herself went and inspected it as a hiding place.

It wasn't long before she proclaimed it satisfactory. They all squeezed inside, pushing through a big gap in the formation to the inside.

Once inside, Alpha gave them all jobs – Sakura and Kakashi were to prepare food, Neiji was to scout and collect firewood, and Yamoto was to block all of the holes in – whilst she and Omega took to some higher rocks in order to discuss travel arrangements and such for the next day.

Everyone huddled in a circle for dinner half an hour later; around a small fire.

Kakashi and Sakura had prepared some rice, and also fish, which Neiji had discovered whilst scouting the area; apparently there was a small lake nearby.

It wasn't long after dinner that everyone settled down for the night; pulling cloaks, or small blankets over themselves, and huddling close to each other in order to keep warm. Kakashi noticed that Alpha and Omega had taken guard. Both were curled up together in the corner, but Kakashi knew they were perfectly alert. Alpha was especially tense tonight.

After the long day of running it didn't take Kakashi long to fall asleep.

They continued travelling for the next two days. On the third day, they reached the rain village.

Surrounding the village was a large forest; and in the forest sat many tiny houses. These were not lived in by inhabitants of the village; but by nomad civilians, who had been allowed to live there by the previous ruler of the rain village. Omega informed them that by letting the people continue their lives here, the Akatski felt that it drew less attention to themselves.

Alpha ordered them to set up camp in the nearby forest; and requested that Yamato made an imitation house with three rooms inside, which they could set up a base in.

Yamato complied.

The house was two stories high, and made of wood; as were most of the houses surrounding it. It didn't stand out.

The inside, however, was very different.

The bottom floor was bigger than the top, and was composed of two rooms. The top was smaller, and only had one room.

The reason for the lack of rooms was to make sure that they had each room guarded, in case of attack. They would split into three groups; decided by Alpha. They could not all stay in one room because it would be harder to defend, and they would be vulnerable to attack; they could be charged from each side and trapped in the middle.

Alpha's choice of sleeping partners was based on medical ability; and, as with travelling partners, was flawless.

Sakura would partner with Neiji, since they were the strongest and weakest medically.

Omega would partner with Yamato again, since Omega had the best medical abilities out of the hunter-nins. Finally, Kakashi would be with Alpha; who's medical abilities were lesser than Omega's; Kakashi's medical abilities far outranked Yamato's.

Kakashi and Alpha were to take the room at the top of the house; which had the best view of the rain village, so that Alpha could watch for incoming attacks.

Neiji and Sakura would be sleeping in the room furthest from the rain village, because of Neiji's bykogan, which could see further than anyone; and because he could see an oncoming attack from the forest; which was where Alpha and Omega assumed an attack would come, if it did.

Both hunter-nin, and Neiji would be on guard for most of the night; although they would switch at several designated points, for an hour at the most.

It was a good plan; Kakashi just hoped that Neiji could hold out for the long watch.  
Kakashi slept for about two hours that night. He woke up to see Alpha sitting in the window. She was lent back against the frame, staring out into the night. For once, she had her hiat-ai off; though from the way she was sitting, he couldn't see her face still.

Her mask was still on; the moonlight highlighted the colour.

Her hair was sticking out at all angles as well, as if she had run her hand through it numerous times that night. It would have been indistinguishable from the darkness in the room; but the light from outside fell on it at random intervals.

Her hair, like the other hunter's, was black; in fact, Kakashi had never met a hunter nin who hadn't had black hair. His sensei had once made a joke about it during training, wondering out loud if it was part of the job description.

Kakashi breathed in, and a smell he recognised hit his nose. He had been trying to place it since he met the hunter nin's; it was on both their scents.

He recognised it now: hair dye.

It must have been part of their uniform: protecting their identity.

When he thought about it; he didn't actually know anything about the hunter nins. He knew that one of them was five foot two, and the other one was six foot three. He knew that one was female and the other was male. He knew that one of them had short messy hair, and the other had long straight hair.

Aside from those few snippets of information; he really didn't know much at all.

Alpha and Omega were code names too; not even their hunter names, by which Tsunade would call them; just random names picked out for this particular mission.

Kakashi wondered how many times their names changed in a week.

He knew for a fact that his sensei enjoyed messing with their names, calling them different names every day; expecting them to keep up; he'd informed Kakashi that he 'simply didn't know what he wanted to name them'.

Of course, he couldn't just call them by their real names. That would be a dead giveaway. But Kakashi happened to think that calling them by different names for every week, month, mission, or even day was going a bit too far.

Kakashi wondered suddenly if these were those same hunter nins.

It was impossible though. Kakashi was sure that hunter nin had an even shorter average lifespan than ANBU members; which was about ten years in ANBU.

He also knew that the hunter nins almost never had breaks. Protecting the Hokage was a full time occupation, and unless she personally decided that they needed a break, they would get no time off. And in such a case, she would have to make sure that she was not in any obvious danger, and would have to call in some extra ANBU to help take their places. He assumed that she would have to choose who got off at the same time as well; she couldn't get rid of both of the attack force, or both of the defence squad at the same time; it would be suicide.

It also led Kakashi to wonder how the hunter nin were chosen. Surely people would notice if their friends just suddenly went missing. Of course, they could just claim that the person died, and shove their name on the mission stone. But Kakashi was sure that would cause an uproar if it was ever discovered, so there would be no real point to it at all.

"We're trained from birth", came the soft voice of Alpha from across the room.

"What?" He asked. He hadn't spoken out loud, had he?

"You wondered about our training and things, from birth."

"You can read minds?"

"Advanced bloodline", she said, turning a little to wink at him. "It's not exact though."

"You were chosen for that?"

"No, I was never supposed to exist. They had to hush it up somehow."

"You're allowed to tell me all of this?"

"Tsunade is very kind to us. She is not the same as the Hokage's who prevented our speech. Besides, you won't tell anyone. Even if you did, no one would believe you."

"Hokage's prevented your speech?"

"We are servants and guards only, Hatake Kakashi-sama, we can only use what rights are given to us. Tsunade has given us rights beyond what we ever had in the past. She's too kind to us; even though we were supposedly 'born to serve.'"

"Then hunter-nin can be bred?"

"Most are, Hatake Kakashi-sama, like dogs."

"What a horrid thing to say."

The woman sighed and leaned back again, turning to face outside of the window.  
"Put it this way: Shinobi are cats; they come to their owners, do what their owners want, then get fed, and then are allowed to wonder wherever they want, as long as they return to their owners, and kill, or scare of the mouse that their owners don't want around."

She stopped here, pausing to scan the outside world for a while, before sighing again, and continuing.

"Hunter nin, on the other hand, are bred like thoroughbreds; for parading around your friends, like nearby villages; they are like guard dogs, and the sort of animal you would keep on a tight leash. The sort of animal which will sit obediently at your heels until you ordered it to move, to even make a noise, breath. Do you understand?"

Kakashi gulped. She certainly had a nasty outlook on life.

"I cannot answer, or comment on some of your other questions, but I'll say this: Yondaime-sama was a brilliant man; despite his, well, obsession with names. I truly enjoyed what little company I shared with him."

"You knew him?"

"I am not allowed to tell you my exact age but we are trained from birth, Hatake kakashi-sama. I also knew your father."

'She must be a lot older than I thought!' Kakashi thought to himself.

The woman chuckled. But she did not speak any more.

Neither of them slept any more that night. Kakashi thought more about what she had told him, and also took his watch with her when it was time; though she refused to move, and instead they just sat together in silence, watching the world move.


	4. Chapter 4

Again, enjoy and review

Again, enjoy and review

Chapter 4 (?)

The next morning the six were put into two groups, as promised. Alpha was to work with Neiji and Kakashi; and Omega was to work with Yamato and Sakura.

Kakashi assumed that they had been separated by abilities again. The two hunter-nin were on a team each, which set both at an advantage; their leadership was sure to pull through. Kakashi and Neiji could work together if attacked; and to look for evidence of Akatski – although Kakashi was sure that if it came down to it, Neiji could have happily done so himself. However, Kakashi had had contact with Akatski before, which would help the team.

Sakura and Yamato were also a good team; Sakura was best on offensive, and was the medic among them; whilst Yamato was best on the defensive, and had no medical skills to speak of. Their skills complimented each other. Kakashi assumed that Omega also had a skill that would help both of theirs along.

Team Alpha headed towards the east of the village; whilst the other three headed west.

Alpha stopped suddenly on the way to their destination; a bunch of caves which were about a kilometre from their camp. Kakashi and Neiji quickly took defensive stances, ready for the incoming attack.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do, Omega", the woman was speaking into her radio, "Remember our priorities please."

'False alarm', Kakashi thought to himself, straightening himself quickly.

They set off again, and reached the caves quickly. They scoured the caves together; Alpha wouldn't let them split up, and found nothing suspicious.

The next place they searched was a nearby swamp; which Tsunade suspected greatly.  
Kakashi knew immediately that this definitely wouldn't be the place, seeing as Tsunade had made a bet on it.

They searched anyway. Kakashi was quite impressed that Alpha got in on the actions. He suspected that, being a woman, she would try and get out of getting dirty.

Instead, the woman joined them in stripping off their top layers, and jumped right in.

If Kakashi hadn't known any better, he would have assumed that she did this stuff for enjoyment. She certainly seemed to be having fun.

Kakashi was right; there was nothing suspicious in the swamp. There was, however, lots of interesting and random items, which he decided to try and take back.  
Alpha had picked up a small child's toy, and looked at it for a long while. He wondered whether it was suspicious?

She smiled at him when she saw him watching her, once again, she was not wearing her hiet-ai, he watched as her eyes crinkled upwards.

It was then he realised: 'she didn't have a childhood'.

If she had been trained from birth, like she said, it didn't look good on the 'going out and playing with friends' front.

He wondered sadly if she even had any friends.

He wished he could have taken back the thought, when he saw her turn away; she had obviously 'heard'.

'I'll be your friend' He tried to yell at her telepathically, although he wasn't quite sure how exactly it worked. He wasn't sure whether she had heard him or not, as she had gone back to searching in the murky water. He also realised how ridiculous and cliché he sounded.

They took a break after the swamp. She led them to a small lake, where they were able to wash themselves and their clothes quickly, before moving on.

The last place they searched was an abandoned mansion on the side of a hill. They had to search this one more thoroughly, since Alpha believed there had been Akatski activity lately, due to a large amount of chakra energy in the place. She had him check out what types of chakra which were around; which was all elements. They searched the place quickly, before deciding that the man wasn't buried there, and heading back to base.

They got there before the other group; who Alpha contacted; they were still on the last search, but had found nothing to show that Itachi was buried there. They had found evidence of illegal activities there, however.

They made food in the house, whilst they waited for the others to come back. Alpha told Neiji to rest however, since he had had long watches the night before, and had the same coming that night. She was obviously worried about the younger nin's health.

Kakashi and Alpha talked little as they made food. He wasn't really sure how to go about talking to her, as he wasn't sure what she was, and wasn't allowed to talk about. However, he made sure that she would never call him Hatake Kakashi-sama again. He told her that he would chidori her in her sleep if she called him anything other than 'Kakashi' , ever. She told him that she'd 'like to see him try', but seemed to be complying with his wishes anyhow.

It was an hour before the others joined them at the house.


End file.
